Tourism Ireland Piggybacks on Game of Thrones to Lure French Tourists

Tourism Ireland is reaping the benefits of the worldwide success of Game of Thrones. Part of the show is filmed in Northern Ireland. The Irish tourist board signed a deal with HBO to promote the show’s stunning filming locations. Their global campaign was launched in April and is running until mid-June in several countries including France. Let’s take a closer look at how their campaign translates in the Gallic market.

Is there an event, a local legend, a film or song you could cling to in order to promote your hotel or region? Have a look at what others do and think about how you can recycle their strategy. If your travel brand is targeting French holidaymakers, hire a native French copywriter that will catch their attention with fun and well-written copy. Make sure you strike a chord with your target audience. I hope that this post will inspire your travel content marketing strategy.

Website Content

Tourism Ireland really went all the way with this Game of Thrones landing page on their French website. I am not fond of parallax scrolling websites but I must admit the result is sleek and offers a great user experience. The content is easy to find and featured on the home page.

The content is written in a fun and engaging style. The landing page cleverly links to major landmarks, tours and offers. Tourism Ireland -or shall I say, Tourisme Irlandais- is prominently highlighting its own 3-day Game of Thrones itinerary [FR]. The landing page also directs potential French tourists to other GOT-related activities available in Northern Ireland with the ‘Good to Know’ section (museum, archery classes, guided tours, etc.) It’s not all about the show as they’ve also pushed some of their own content (Travelling within Ireland). Here is a good example of how you can repurpose your content and ensure it gets more exposure.

The only major let down is that some pages have not been translated yet. Users are likely to come across pages written in the source language. For instance, the Castle Ward page (Winterfell) is still written in English.

Social Media

The best part of Tourism Ireland’s Game of Thrones campaign is their use of social media. They’ve made baby steps in the social TV arena with their quirky tweets and updates. The play on words are sometimes cheesy but they make users smile, like or retweet. They found a tone of voice that sits perfectly with the show while staying family-friendly. This campaign will certainly appeal to a younger demographic that traditionally does not travel to Northern Ireland.

Here is a selection of tweets and updates shared on Twitter and Facebook. All the creatives are written in French and all have a pun or play on words linked to the show.